Heading To Nowhere
by pandorabox82
Summary: Dana knew that even though Mulder might drag her to the middle of nowhere way too often, there wasn't any other place she'd rather go with him.


Dana groaned a little as her alarm went off. Slipping her hand from beneath the covers, she slapped at the button to turn it off before sitting up and stretching. Glancing over at Mulder, she saw that he was still fast asleep, something that didn't surprise her, but still annoyed her. Reaching across the bed, she shook his shoulder in an effort to wake him up. A small smile spread across his lips before he said something. "I'm still sleeping, Walter."

"Dammit, Fox, wake up! We need to get moving," she hotly replied, knowing that he was trying to be a smartass, and winning at it. "This is not time to play around."

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered as he turned away from her and pulled the covers up around his neck before starting to lightly snore in a few moments. Rolling her eyes, Dana climbed out of bed and padded over to her side of the closet, pulling out a suit for the day before going into the bathroom and stripping off her pyjamas. Stepping into the shower, she turned the water and let it pelt her body in an effort to wake herself up, sleep still clinging to her tighter than a boa constrictor. Finally, she started to feel more alive, and as she washed her hair, Dana thought about what they were going to have to do today. There was a backlog of reports to file, and Skinner was going to have their teeth if they didn't get turned in, so she knew that she would have to start there, since Mulder didn't seem to have much care for that. A part of her wondered how he had ever managed to stay on any supervisor's good side, and she made a mental note to check in with David Rossi in the BAU to see how he had been back then.

"Hurry up in there, Scully! We have forty minutes to get in the car and head out to the airport!" Groaning slightly, she wiped away the condensation on the shower to look out at him, seeing the happy grin on his lips that told her he had gotten a lead on another X-File. Giving him a tired smile back, Dana washed the shampoo from her hair and turned the water off before opening the door to the shower. Mulder was holding out a towel, and she shook her head a little as she wrapped it around her body and stomped over to the sink, plugging in her hairdryer and quickly running it over her hair before applying a quick bit of makeup and dressing.

By the time she made it downstairs, Mulder was already making coffee for them, and he pushed a bagel in her direction as he filled their travel mugs. "Where are we headed to this time?" she asked shortly, bitterly regretting the time she would lose on getting the backlog of reports finished.

"Bismarck, North Dakota."

Pursing her lips, Dana nodded tightly as she picked up her bagel, trying not to crush it between her fingers as she felt her blood boil. That was a place that was so far out of reach of other places, and she hated when they were so out of the way. If anything happened to them, and it usually was something, there was a greater chance of them being seriously hurt. And they weren't the youngest now, though it seemed like she was the only person to take that into consideration. "Great. Did you grab my bag, too?"

"Of course, I wouldn't overlook that important of a detail," he replied as he came over to her side and kissed the side of her head. "Now, this is the part where a typical partner would say have a good day at work, but since we're headed out on the field together, I know that you'll have a wonderful day at work."

Mulder gave her that endearing smile that she had first fallen for, and she knew that she couldn't stay aggravated with him for much longer. "Let's get on our way, then. The sooner we're out there, the sooner we can be home."

He nodded before leaning in and kissing her softly. "I like the enthusiasm, Scully," he whispered in her ear before grabbing the keys off the hook and bounding out into the garage, their travel mugs in hand. Rolling her eyes a little, Dana took a bite of her bagel before following after him, knowing that there wasn't really anything else she could do. As he drove to the airport, she polished off her bagel and coffee, knowing that they would be working through the details of the case as soon as they were waiting for the plane to take off and while they flew, and so she chose to fill the drive with silence. Mulder seemed to understand her need for quiet as he hummed lowly to himself as he drove.

Finally, they arrived, and she zoned out during their check in, having been through it so many times before. As they were escorted back to their gate, Dana allowed Mulder to make small talk with the officer that was guiding them while she prepared herself for the task at hand. Her partner had been a little evasive as to what they were investigating out in Bismarck, but she truly hoped that they wouldn't be hunting down a skinwalker or wendigo.

Somehow, she wasn't surprised to find that they were going outside onto the tarmac and onto a small plane. Those were the worst, in her experience, as she swore that she could feel every wind that buffeted the plane. "You didn't say that we were flying on a puddlejumper, Mulder," she protested as she climbed the stairs up into the plane.

"There weren't any larger planes heading that way this early in the morning, so I had to improvise. Thankfully, we have some pull with the private pilots in the area, and managed to find someone who wanted to head out that way. Coming home will be easier."

"If you say so," she muttered as she sank down into one of the seats, waiting for Mulder to join her.

"Think of it this way, we're sort of like the BAU, with our own private jet today. Granted, this isn't ours to use whenever we need it, but it will be nice to pretend for a day, yes?"

Dana shook her head a little as she sighed. "I suppose that we can think of it that way," she said lowly as their pilot poked his head in the back, giving them a large smile.

"Are we ready to go then?" he asked, and Dana nodded. "All right, buckle up and I'll get us underway."

She did as he asked, finding that Mulder had already done that, though he had his tray down, a file spread out on it. "Is that our case?"

"Yeah. We're hunting down a skinwalker." She couldn't stop the loud groan that slipped from her lips, and he turned his head to look at her, a wry grin on his lips. "What? Were you expecting something different?"

"I was hoping that it wouldn't be them, actually. I don't really think that skinwalkers exist."

"You have a hard time believing anything outside the realms of probability exist, Scully. That's why you're with me, remember?" She rolled her eyes a little, chuckling when Fox leaned over and kissed her cheek softly. She knew that moments like this were what made her work with him worthwhile, and even though she tried to remain skeptical about the work that he so dearly loved, Dana knew that she would follow him to the ends of the earth to be with him, after everything that they had been through. Even if it was something as ridiculously unbelievable as hunting down skinwalkers in the wilds of North Dakota.


End file.
